Culture
& Heritage

Florida's Native American
Heritage spans more
than 12,000 years. Indigenous peoples occupied the SunshineState long before the
Europeans arrived and
their cultures are both historically marked and practiced
today. Indeed, 95% of Florida’s past
occurred before the
Europeans arrived. Names such as Pensacola, Miami, Okeechobee, Caloosahatchee
and Tallahassee are reminders of the
Paleo-Indians who
first lived here. Florida's early inhabitants
built monuments from
the most readily available materials - shells and sand and
sometimes, clay. Prehistoric middens
and mounds are found in numerous historic sites across the
state.

Florida Native
American Heritage Trail.

A copy of the eBook
is on line at FloridaMemory

"Florida Native
American Heritage Trail" which is published by the Florida
Department of State, Division of Historical Resources.

Indian
Temple Mound Museum.
Ft. Walton Beach, FL.

Known
also as the HeritagePark
and Cultural Center.
Fort Walton Beach,
Okaloosa
County.
(850.833.9595) theIndian
Temple Mound Museum
is located next to the
National Historic Landmark Temple Mound that gave
name to the impressive Fort
Walton Period ceramics. There
is a short trail
to the mound. Exhibits
reflect the spiritual, technological, and
artistic achievements of the
Native American people from 12,000 years ago through Spanish
contact in the
early 1500s.

Creek
Handmade Arrows.

The
arrows in
the photo are part of the display of the Native American Collection on
exhibit
at Baker Block Museum. Nathan Chessher
made them by hand, using
products of the local environment in Okaloosa
County, exclusively.

Of the
six arrows,
the top three are made of shoots from the
"beloved tree of the Creek Indians," Yaupon Holly.
The three arrows on the bottom are made of
switch cane, this was
favored for arrow shafts.

The arrows are
fletched with wild
turkey
feathers. Only the stiff primary flight feathers are used and because
of the
direction of curl, feathers from the same side wing must be used on an
individual arrow -- right and left wing feathers must not be mixed on
an
individual arrow. The feathers and points are
tied on with sinew from
whitetail deer. Ron Fowler made the arrow points.

Black
Drink.

"Black
drink" was the
name given by colonists to a ritual beverage called Asi,
brewed by Native Americans in the Southeastern
United States.

It was prepared from
the
roasted leaves
and stems of the Yaupon Holly (Ilex vomitoria),
native to the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts. The active ingredient in the
drink was caffeine. The beverage was often
used as a substitute for coffee and tea by colonists under the name
cassine or cassina.

Prior to the 19th
century, the
black drink was consumed
during the daily deliberations of the village councils and at all other
important council meetings. Creeks,
Cherokees, Choctaws, and
others believed it purified the drinker and purged him of anger
and falsehoods.
Black drink was prepared by special village officials and served in
large communal
cups, frequently made of
whelk shell. The men in council were served in order of precedence,
starting with
important visitors. (Creek
Indians called
it a white drink because it symbolizes purity and purifying.
Europeans called it the 'black drink' because of its color)

Ceremonial
Objects & Traditions

"Whelk
Conch Shell"

The
whelk conch or "lightning" whelk as
it was called, is the
only shell that grows with a left hand
spiral. When the inner part of the shell is removed, it forms
a dipper. The shell dipper held the "black drink".

The shells were
collected from the waters of the gulf, then
brought to
the north end of the (Okaloosa) county. These sacred objects
were placed
on graves. This was a common practice here until the 1940s.

"Gorget"

This
traditional gorget necklace was made
by Nathan Chessher. Gorgets of this
type were common to pre-historic southeastern Native
Americans. It is made from the flat part
of the lip of a large whelk shell. It was carved into a circular shape
(4-5 inch diameter) and often, religious symbols were
depicted on them.
The carved depictions were highly stylized because of
the native people's beliefs and their highly developed
artistic skills.

This
gorget necklace is on display at the museum.
Courtesy of Nathan Chessher.

"Square Ground"

The
Creek
Indians kept the village ceremonial fire burning in
the center of the square ground which was in the center of the
village.
It was put out each year and rekindled because during the
year it was the
fire that received the offenses of the people. A new
fire had to be
started to receive the offenses of the coming year - the black drink
was a part of this ceremony.

Water

The
culture of the
Creek people demanded that
every one in the
village take a bath in the creek or river every morning regardless of the
weather or they would be punished. This is one of the reasons
that the
Muscogee people were called Creek Indians, and because
they always lived near
running water. Native prehistoric peoples made offerings to
the water
spirits. They tossed their
best arrowheads into the stream as an offering
to the feared spirits in the water. It is no wonder that, today,we find old
arrowheads in or near streams in our
area.

Burial Houses.

Tribal Elder, Nathan Chessher,
has studied our local Native American culture and history for more than
twenty-six years. He has compiled points of history,
artifacts, read copious documents and taken interviews as part of his
research. He was particularily interested in the burial
houses and, over a three-year period, pieced together their history and
purpose in our area. What follows is a portion of his
detailed, lengthy documented research which he has allowed us
to use.

"Building a shelter
or
'house'
over a grave was both a historic and prehistoric practice
of the Muscogee (Creek) Tribes. Nearly every cemetery in
north Okaloosa County had some of these 'houses.' Mr.
Chessher continues, "When I was a child in the 1940s
they were still being built. The house survived because
Christian Creeks built them in church graveyards where they
were protected and maintained. (The houses were
made from the resinous
heart wood of the old growth southern long-leaf
pine tree which is impervious to rot
and insects. These trees were almost
erridicated by the white settlers. Today, this tree
is being re-introduced into our local forests).

The
diamond shapes on the fence posts indicate a male was buried there; a
circle was
used for females. The whelk shell was
considered to be a
sacred
object.They were often
placed on top of gravesites; accompanied by other smaller
shells covering the entire grave
top." In recent years Mr.
Raymond Halford
has
repaired some of the burial houses in the area by tacking original
wooden
pieces back in place. However, major repairs are problematic because
there are
no longer trees of large enough girth to be harvested to replace the
sidings.

There are other
explanations for these
burial
houses.
Though we favor the one already noted above.
Some
say they were built to keep wild stock or animals off of the
grave.
Others say their purpose was to keep the rain off the grave
top.
Still others say the houses were used
to
provide shade and a resting place for family members to visit.
They may
have also been built to provide a memorial for loved ones - a
baby or honored
person. Others believe the structures were to provide comfort
to the
spirit of the dead or a 'home' for the spirit. More photos of
these burial houses can be viewed in the Heritage Collection of the
MyFlorida website.

The Henry Rushing
Cook family
observed this custom

Henry was born in
1869 to Matthew M. Cook and Eliza
Ann Steele. His
mother, Eliza, was a descendant of the Muscogee Nation. The
family was among prominent traders in the Creek Nation. Read their
family story
in the Heritage of Okaloosa County, Florida. This photo is of
Henry and
family -Nannie, Susie
and Minnie. They were on
their way to the gulf coast (some 20 miles or so) - at the time this
photo was
taken they were going to get shells to adorn gravesites.

Leader and Warrior
ranks.

Title and
rank among Native Americans
had two
separate categories - one for war-fighting and battle and a separate
title for
a tribal leader or healer.

We believe that
"Timpoochee"
was a title which appears before Kinnard's
name (not his first name as the settlers would have assumed). There is
debate
about the various
people named Kinnard or Barnard who bear the name (or moniker)
of ,
"Timpoochee." We encourage you to do your own research and decide.

"Mico"
a title for chief.

Lineage and family
heritage.

Most
native peoples were matrilineal - trace their
lineage
through the mother. However, they had no written records. The
European traders who married Indian women kept records and it is
through these records that bloodlines back to the father and mother are
traced. It is important not to confuse "matrilineal"(birth; bloodline)
with "matriarichal" (power, position).

Another effect lineage had
on native peoples is
that it sometimes determined whether an Indian was
'removed' or not. On some occasions exceptions were made if
the
father
of an Indian child was a prominent white settler in the community.
Other times it was a simple matter of keeping mother and
child
together, thus, sending both to a reservation.

As it happened
throughout the
Southeast United States, native peoples resorted to 'hiding' their true
bloodlines in order to remain in their homeland (often just to survive
at
all) - and to avoid removal. Black Dutch, Mulatto,
Portuguese, among others, were
terms used by full and mixed blood native peoples in order to disguise
their
identity in the white settlers world. Research these terms to
learn more
about the assimilation of native peoples into the predominate culture
of the
19th and 20th centuries in this country.

Notable warriors are
prominent in blood lines -
some had white mothers, others had white fathers, thus, the term "half
blood" or "mixed blood" are sometimes used to describe their
lineage. These terms may be helpful to discuss the past, but they can
also be
hurtful when used as a label. It is always best to determine
the
context and intent of your discussion when using these terms.